Daily Archives: January 16, 2013

This afternoon, I came to the high school at 2:35 to pick Punk up for an appointment that she’d be late for if she took the bus home. A group of students was waiting for their bus on the sidewalk on the far end of the driveway that loops to the front door, and a few kids were across the driveway so they could all throw snowballs at each other. No problem; I expect that (especially considering there was a doozy of a snowball fight happening in the senior parking lot as I drove by).

I slowed and stopped so they could see me, and made eye contact with the two kids still on the driveway. One of them crossed back to the sidewalk, so I slowly proceeded toward the door. As I made my way by him, one of the students threw the snowball he was holding at my car, hitting the drivers’ side rear window. He crossed the street behind me and rejoined his peers on the sidewalk.

In a dark red coat. He was easy to pick out of the crowd.

I stopped the car, backed up, and called the young man to my passenger window where I calmly but sternly scolded him (I’m the mother of two teenage daughters and a high school teacher myself; I have some experience with this sort of thing).

Me: You. Over here…. What was that?

Kid: It was a snowball.

Me: I know it was a snowball. Why did it make contact with my car?

Kid: Uh…

Me: NOT okay, do you understand? Do not ever do that again.

Kid: Okay. Sorry.

To his credit, the boy apologized to me, and I heard him being soundly ribbed by the kids watching from the sidewalk as I drove away.

My intent was to embarrass him – which I did – and to make him think twice before he does something like that again. I think he was genuinely shocked that I backed up to reprimand him, and I know that many (probably all) of the kids looking on were surprised; I’m sure they’re not used to being called to task by total strangers.